Economics and rock 'n' roll don't necessarily go hand in hand, but there's something in the air this summer: my attention has been called to not one but three separate economics lessons from the music business.

Lesson one comes from the front line: according to NPR's economics podcast Planet Money, the rap/country/rock crossover artist Kid Rock has been going to war against ticket touts.

The existence of touts has long been a puzzle for microeconomists: the entire tout business model of buying underpriced tickets and reselling them for a fat mark-up would appear to depend on irrationally low ticket pricing. Why don't rock stars simply charge more?